Commentary: The Crypto Community Is Dividing—And That’s Good | Fortune

If the discussions outside the meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos last week were any indication, the recent crypto-chaos may finally be subsiding. The fog of frenzied cryptocurrency trading looks like it may soon dissipate, leaving markets and society with more of the good that’s resulted from its foundational technology—frictionless, secure, and efficient virtualized transaction settlements—and less of the bad—highly speculative cryptocurrency trading.

There were two tribes of passionate cryptonistas on the Davos Promenade: the monetary renegades and the transaction settlers. These tribes represent the two dominant species of the cryptocurrency ecosystem: the blockchain (the most prominent secure distributed ledger, or public transaction database) and Bitcoin (the most prominent virtual currency). Fortunately, based on my experience at Davos, it appears that the settlers are gaining the upper hand.